Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #2 Review

Great Scott! IDW’s miniseries is back again for another adventure in Hill Valley with the second installment of Citizen Brown. What kind of temporal debauchery have Marty and Doc initiated? It’s time to find out what happens when you have a mixture of science, gangsters and a DeLorean. Is it good?

Back to the Future: Citizen Brown #2 (IDW Publishing)

Starting with a short–really short–recap of issue #1, the story starts back up with some adrenaline. The entire book is extremely high energy. Every turn has some sort of consequence. It makes for a really great read with a lot of entertaining twists. The inner monologue from Marty makes the story–it’s really funny and keeps you involved in the notion that everything that happens is going to affect his life. The panels are great; the backgrounds really pop out with this issue. There are some awesome highlights for each character including crazy Doc Brown who still has an endearing, psychopathic façade.

The issue has quite a few stories intertwined within the main goal. It gets a bit confusing following around each of the plot lines so you need to keep your attention on the ball at all times. The crazy run around fits the world you’re entering though, so it’s only a mild distraction. There’s a short trip back to 1986 to offer an idea on the trauma to the time stream, but it feels forced. It’s not necessarily bad but it’s very quick and there’s a lot packed into it.

Is It Good?

The series is doing a great job with building the story, I’m really looking forward to the next installment-if only my DeLorean had the time travel package.

We’re keeping the broader beats faithful to the video game we’re based on (but tweaking some of the details) so stuff that may feel forced will be in there. (But it does have a purpose – Marty knows 1986 is messed up!) (: